Yellowhammer

(The). The eggs of this bird are spotted with red. The
tradition is that the bird fluttered about the Cross, and got stained
with the blood in its plumage, and by way of punishment its eggs were
doomed ever after to bear marks of blood. 'Tis a very lame story, but
helps to show how in former times every possible thing was made to bear
some allusion to the Redeemer. Because the bird was “cursed,” boys who
abstain from plundering the eggs of small birds, were taught that it is
as right and proper to destroy the eggs of the bunting as to persecute
a Jew. (See Christian Traditions.)